the zoning board said OK, so...

Can you provide some more info on your intended
configuration? Digi only? Analog and digi? Console budget?

--Tom

 

Well, if you can afford the Neve, more power to you, go for
it!

Allergic to SSL? Yeah, they're kind of their own entity but
really an industry standard. Easy for other engineers to come
in and work as many folks have experience on them.

I'm a few years removed from serious console shopping (moved
from a university with a nice budget for gear, Middle Tennessee
State, to one with almost no budget for gear, Carnegie Mellon,
about 7 years ago). At the time we were looking at MTSU,
I was really impressed with the Euphonix stuff. They were
control surfaces that controlled an all-analog signal path. Not
in wide use though, but I really liked what they had to offer.

MTSU ultimately decided on the Studer configurable worksurface
for that purchase (we already had a SSL in one of the studios).
AMEK had some nice stuff too, and one of their consoles had a
lot of consultation from Neve himself.

Here at Carnegie Mellon we're all Pro-Tools (in spite of my
push to have both analog and digi), so we're just using the
Control 24.

Have fun shopping though, I wish I were in your shoes!

--Tom

 

With the kind of budget you're talking about, why not a vintage Neve? You can easily get an 8068 or an 8078 with Flying Faders installed for that kind of $$$ - the 88R is a nice sounding modern console, but NOTHING comes close to an 8078 when it comes to great open sound and pristine signal path. And having a 1083 eq on every channel means you have no need to spend any $ on outboard EQ

 

Interesting. The last time i worked on the 88R (at The Village Recorder) I noticed how incredibly HOT the console surface got - not sure how it correlates to the power consumption though. I've used the API Legacy stuff and they sound REALLY good, but ergonomically they are NOT so hot. For me, at least. I'm also allergic to SSL, even though when i was coming up as an engineer/mixer you HAD to work on them, if you wanted to work. That said, i've always preferred SSL automation to Neve, especially once SSL went to moving faders. These days i do ALL my automation in ProTools, so its not a factor for me anymore - to me an 8078 is THE ideal front end for a good ProTools rig

 

You may want to dig a little deeper to make sure your future electricity price fears are justified.

Do you have any idea how little electricity is produced by petroluem fired plants?

For the last year I can find (2003), it was 3.8% nationwide.

For your rates to increase substatially due to high oil prices, you would have to be served by one of the VERY few utilities that are substantially sourced by petroleum.

You can examine your state's electricity profile (2002 is the latest data for my state) here:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/e_profiles_sum.html

You can track the petroleum-fired energy production down to the megawatt. For instance in my state, North Carolina, the total megawatt hours for petroleum production was 447, out of a combined source total of 26,674.

That's just 1.7%.

The average national retail price of electricity is near what it was in the early 1970's, (before the oil shocks of that decade), and about 1/3 less than their historical highs in the early 1980s.

If your electricity prices go up now and over the next 10 years, and anyone (including your utility company) tells you it's because of high oil prices, I'd be asking for more answers. For instance, my utility company is primarily nuclear and coal sourced (and my rate is 7.0 cents/kwh). I expect my utility rates to increase marginally over the next 10 years, regardless of oil prices (even including any increased transportation costs due to higher oil prices).

Two more things:

- utility rates are regulated by state utility commissions, which are required to provide only a reasonable rate of return to the utility companies, so any price increases due to increased costst will have to pass the commission's scrutiny (all of those records should be public, BTW).

- Your state utility commission may be committed to restructuring, and you may be on track to purchase your electricity from any utility company in the national grid. You can monitor your state's progress to restructuring (if any) here:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/restructure.html


I'm not saying energy costs are not in important part of any business budget. I'm also not saying you'll be able to afford to drive to a commercial studio in 10 years (another benefit of the home studio!).


I'm just saying you may be able to broaden the scope of your console evaluations if it turns out your electricity price increase fears may not be realized.

And big congrats on your opportunity to go forward with your studio plans. Looking forward to more posts about your journey!

 

I agree most of your facts, but not your generalized (national) conclusions. Even under your scenario, the increase in electricity prices will be controlled more by the increased demand for electricity, than any potential increase in oil and gas prices.

First, domestic natural gas production meets nearly 85% of domestic natural gas demand (compared to less than 40% of domestic oil consumption being sourced domestically), and we have 75 years worth of proven reserves. Natural gas demand increases could lower the number of years available, but that can be mitigated by opening up exploration to federally controlled lands and offshore sites.

Assuming output can't be increased from existing production facilities (not always the case, but let's assume that), and production increases come from coal and natural gas, then only marginal production increases will be at higher coal costs (the cost of existing production would not necessarily be higher). To achieve a doubling in electricity rates on the weighted average of production would mean scenarios such as:

100% increase in demand and cost increases for marginal production of 200%

As in:

current demand at 100 units of production x .07/kwh = 7.00
inceased demand at 100 units of production x .21/kwh = 21.00

Total costs = 28.00
Divide by all production= 28.00/200 = .14 rates

Anything less than a 100% increase demand would require even HIGHER marginal costs of production, as increased demand and marginal costs would have to be inversely proportional to achieve a doubling of costs (in a weighted average)

As in:
current demand at 100 units of production x .07/kwh = 7.00
inceased demand at 50 units of production x .42/kwh = 21.00
Total costs = 28.00

Mitigating that even further, actual demand for electricity has increased over the last 20 years at a rate of 2.7% annually.

Which puts the more likely scenario at:

current demand at 100 units of production x .07/kwh = 7.00
inceased demand at 34 units of production x .62/kwh = 21.00
Total costs = 28.00

So your scenarior requires a nearly 10 fold increase in marginal production costs over 10 years to .62/kwh to achieve a doubling of electricity costs.

In addition, demand for electricity has increased at 2.7% annually for the past 20 years, and prices have decreased by about a third.

What sources were used to achieve those production increases?

Actually 2 sources:
- Increased production efficiency at nuclear plants rose from about 60% to 90%.
- Natural gas fueled plants coming online.

And don't count nuclear power out.

There are three current applications under way for new nuclear Early Site Permits, all proposed as additions to existing nuclear plant sites which were spec'd for more than existing capacity (something common to most nuclear plant sites in the U.S.).

All of these applications are under new National Energy Policy government/industry cost-sharing efforts to promote advanced nuclear plant technologies and navigate licensing requirements to bring at least one new nuclear plants online ASAP (and certainly more than one is the long term goal).


So again, I believe the issue of increasing electricity costs is specific to your own utility, and its ability to meet local demand increases.

While California was rocked by electricty cost spikes, much of the rest of the nation was untouched. My electricity rates have gone down over the past 20 years, and haven't budged over the past 5 years while I understand some California customers saw 50% rate increases.

My only point is that your estimate of doubling electric rates is FAR from a national consensus.

If you live in California, all bets are off.



As your post shows, if a certain piece of equipment simply increases your electricity consumption to the point of making it an unattractive choice, you don't even need to factor in electricity price increases to make your decision.

Now we just need affordable technologies to turn console heat into usable energy!

 

What's the end goal of the facility? Strictly private? A few vanity projects? A Prince-like deluge of releases? A blend of inside/outside projects? I've done some engineering for a decent private studio locally, but the budget was less than a quarter of your own, and the studio quickly became the hub for a small label owned by the same cat. (He went with The Sony 'baby oxford' - the 25k-ish one - and a bunch of really nice outboard from Manley, etc.).

Just trying to get a handle on the vision/thinking here, as this is not a common scenario for the non-rockstar type.

 

More power too you. I'd probably do the same thing if i had the skrill, but i'm crazy like that, too.

 

I think I read somewhere that the US was lifting restrictions and freeing $ to promote the construction of new nuclear power plants. That would make the first new plants 10 years away.

If I had that budget, I'd recreate Ladyland, circa 1970.